Abstinence is Awesome
by Ihsan997
Summary: Magtyra is a devoted vindicator, hot on the trail of an unbound succubus luring the innocent to join a bizarre fetish cult out in the woods. But when she hires Zhenya, a flippant paladin for hire who hates trees, she realizes that the solution might be as bad as the problem. 5 chapters.
1. Phat Lewtz

Hooves clopped back and forth in the guard post, a testament to the nervousness that even the defenders of the Holy Light felt. Three vindicators, two of them quite young, paced around as they waited anxiously for word that their trump card had arrived.

Outside the window, they could see the sisters at the convent tending to their herb garden and going about their business of daily maintenance; a few of the brothers tried to repair fences that had been knocked over when the frantic escapees had first reached their small sanctuary in the Terokkar Forest. All of those members of the clergy were sworn to pacifism, relying entirely on the vindicators for protection.

Magtyra, the head of the six person guard outpost, folded her arms behind her back as she waited. Her two male counterparts sat on benches and read small prayer books, the nervousness apparent in their rushed tones. Both men were extremely young for their kind, only recently recruited from villages in the area. That made Magtyra the most senior member of the outpost, a position for which she bore an _extreme_ dislike.

"Light, guide us," one of the two burly young men repeated, not even looking up from his prayer book as he gripped it in his hands.

Though she feared that her own unease might frighten her two youngers, pacing was the only technique she knew could calm her nerves at such a time. Finding little recourse, all Magtyra could do was attempt to slow down her rhythm as she worked out her nervous energy.

The pitter patter of familiar clawed feet filled her with both anxiety and relief. Her youngers didn't notice the sound, but they did notice her straighten up formally. Standing in the center of the front office at their outpost, she faced the door and waited until Pika walked in.

"Sergeant Magtyra!" the little arakkoa squaked as he burst into the room. An arakkoa convert, Pika was even more devoted to the Light than many of the draenei there, having made a conscious choice to volunteer at the little convent and provide what knowledge he could about illusion spells to mask the place from hostile eyes. "She came! She came!"

"Thank the Light!" Magtyra sighed at the dark figure came into the light inside of the outpost.

As tall as her but much heavier, the paladin looked like a much sterner version of herself. Plodding on the floor more heavily than the two men, the legendary traveling anti heroine clopped inside, her helmet clipped to her belt to reveal one horn intact and half of the other one broken off, and her warhammer slung over her shoulder. The more heavily armored woman walked in so smoothly that she practically radiated the Light she wielded; every movement was like striking a pose she hadn't even intended, and the slight arrogance about her only added to that sense of awe.

The two young men actually looked down in shyness, and Magtyra felt a brief twinge of jealousy at the fact that neither of them behaved to sheepishly in front of her. Shaking it off as immature, she held her hands open in a formal greeting. "Paladin Zhenya, I presume?" she asked, met only by a blank, apathetic stare as the woman didn't even spare her a nod. "We're so glad you came; our convent is in trouble!"

Glancing nonchalantly out the window, Zhenya watched the peaceful sisters and brothers tend to their volunteer tasks outside, keeping the convent of some three dozen plus a handful more of devotees tidy and well organized. Skepticism wove its way into the slight snort the paladin let escape from her small, wide nose, and Magtyra began to worry that their small sanctuary would seem insignificant to a woman who had become known as a mercenary in possession of creative solutions.

"As you can see, Paladin Zhenya, our quiet little community works to spread the true faith in these dark woods. But ever since that succubus has begun wooing our members into her cult...well, our volunteers are frightened. Oh so frightened!"

Zhenya honed in on Nazar, one of the brothers tilling a small garden of onions and cabbage. A mere century old, many of their kind weren't even sure whether to refer to him as a boy or a man, yet. "Mm hmm," she hummed without even listening. Doubt crept in and Magtyra intensely disliked the Zhenya's tone.

She stepped forward and placed a firm hand on the paladin's shoulder, standing at attention as two comrades in arms. "Please, help us bring down this cult! That succubus Nina wishes to convert our youth to her wicked ways and lead them astray!"

After she'd watched Nazar heave farming tools around for far longer than was appropriate, Zhenya turned back with her blank, empty stare. "Will there be phat lewtz?" she asked without any sense of restraint at all.

Magtyra smiled the smile of an angry person, but reminded herself that the Light taught its devotees not to judge; perhaps Pika hadn't been clear about the compensation involved, or she herself hadn't been clear to Pika. "Of course; while we don't work for material gain, we do understand that our sisters and brothers in faith do require sustenance. The going rate for this capture quest is five hundred gold-"

"Let's go," Zhenya said abruptly while turning tail and walking back outside.

"Um...yes, in the name of the Light, let's go!" Magtyra cheered while clopping after her.

The two young men hesitated for a moment, only following them outside when Magtyra turned around and waved at them impatiently. Pika stood at the doorway of the outpost, watching the guarantors of the sanctuary's safety follow the strange, stoic woman who'd already strode far ahead of them without even looking back.


	2. Light Competition

For half a day they hiked through the woods, crouching low and hiding behind foliage as they scouted each square inch of the forest. Magtyra knew full well that the cult didn't hide their activities so far from civilization, and she was banking on the element of surprise once they arrived.

Her bank was robbed, proverbially speaking, when Zhenya seemed intent on behaving in the least stealthy way possible for the entire thirteen hour hike.

"Kherrrrrrrrrrr - patooey!"

Having cleared the entire contents of her throat in the relatively moist air of that portion of Terokkar Forest, Zhenya spat on a toadstool for no readily available reason. Crunching logs beneath her heavy hooves, the paladin smashed a trail through the woods that couldn't have been less obvious even if they'd ridden elekks in there instead of marching on foot. And Zhenya hadn't even pulled out her warhammer yet.

A particularly large tree stood in one of the leaf covered paths. There was enough space for all four of them to walk around it, but unfortunately for the tall plant it happened to be right where Zhenya had been walking. The first glint of emotion washed over the strange woman's face as she balled up her plate covered fists and marched toward it, staring it down as if it were just an insolent person she could intimidate into moving out of her way. Magtyra sensed the paladin's intent and stumbled forward to intervene.

"So Zhenya," Magtyra chirped, wrapping her arm around the woman's shoulders and guiding her trajectory away from the tree at the last moment. "How did you find the Light?"

Zhenya's grip on the hilt of her warhammer had tightened, but Magtyra breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't have to find out of a blunt object could fell a tree as easily as an axe. "I'm a draenei," she stated flatly as the two of them walked like two strolling girlfriends (who also cracked skulls open with blunt objects in their spare time) going for a walk by a lake.

"Yes, aren't we all," Magtyra replied, masking her nervousness with laughter. A measure of relief filled her when the men, who heretofore had been mesmerized by the paladin's backside, hurried out in front in recognition of the fact that their sergeant had become a bit occupied. "So anyway, when did you realize that fighting to defend our beliefs and way of life was the right path for you?"

For a long time, Zhenya didn't answer. Whether she hadn't heard the question or felt uncomfortable discussing religion - and odd quirk for a paladin - Magtyra didn't know. She felt shy to ask, but the awkward silence began to push her. "When did you-"

As if waiting for her to start talking, Zhenya then interrupted her at the most awkward time. "-ears ago."

Magtyra laughed uncomfortably. "Um...when was that?"

"A few years ago." Zhenya didn't even look at her via peripheral vision, focusing ahead on the air in between their two male counterparts and hurrying as if to overtake them. A competitive tense of the woman's jaw muscle worried Magtyra.

"Well, it sounds like you're...already ahead of so many other people! It isn't always easy to find what one wants in life." Like a child, the weak form of psychology seemed to work on Zhenya, and she slowed down her pace a bit when Magtyra described her as being better than other people at something. "So...where are you fro-"

"Argus."

Magtyra's eyes grew wide even as Zhenya continued to ignore her. "Wha...that's amazing! That's incredible! You must be...you must be over twenty thousand years old!"

Zhenya fell silent again for a while, walking stiffly and making Magtyra feel a little awkward with her arm still around the woman's shoulder. "Something like that," Zhenya mumbled almost incomprehensibly.

"Ahem. So...anyway Zhenya, how much did a Pika tell you about the mission?"

"That I get paid a lot," Zhenya replied without shame. One of the two male vindicators ahead of them snickered but quickly suppressed the sound.

Creeping doubt about the woman's intentions continued to put Magtyra on edge. Feeling the need to calm down as the two men retraced the path their scouts had mapped to the cult's hideout earlier, the sergeant did her best to get their mercenary up to speed.

"Nina is the alias used by this member of the Sayaad we've been tracking...we're fairly certain that it isn't her real name, but then again, demons have little usage for names. We're also not sure how she's acting independently of the Burning Legion or any mortal warlock; our scouts haven't detected any signs of control over her, and the few escapees from her den of ill repute report everyone reporting only to her and this weird...tree...thing that she commits acts of polytheism with. They say the fruit from that tree corrupts indefinitely."

"It looks pretty corrupt."

All three vindicators froze. They'd wandered way too far without watching their surroundings, focusing all their attention on their odd companion. In the end, it was Zhenya who gazed forward and saw the break in the forest that led to a dead, corrupted pit cut into a clearing, a single twisted tree shooting up out of what appeared to be a fortified demon camp.


	3. Decadent Elegance

The four of them stood at the edge of the clearing, staring quietly at the rather poorly defended demon den. Smack dab in the middle of a clearing, most of the area had been dug into a very large pit and flattened, though stray boulders and earthen mounds punctuated the landscape. Fel bonfires burned, adding to the eeriness of the strangely placed den. In sharp contrast to the earthen mounds and chunks of rock, brass objects that resembled furniture dotted the pit, covered in naked and frolicking cultists who were surprisingly unarmed.

All in the middle of it was that twisted tree, leafless and pointing toward the unnaturally green sky.

"I sense a great evil in this place," Magtyra muttered, shuddering at the disgusting sensation of her skin crawling as the waves of corruption hit her. The two young men wielded their maces nervously, likely seeing a true scene of blasphemy for the first time.

Zhenya, however, appeared undaunted. Alright, let's do this," she said while marching straight out of the woods and into the demon camp without even looking around for added or pulled hostiles.

"Paladin Zhenya, wait! This is not the way in which the Light commands those in whom it puts Its trust to oppose those to whom is deigns-"

"Sentences can be ended with prepositions," Zhenya huffed while kicking down the ramparts of rotten wood and entering the pit, basically announcing her entrance to all the unarmed cultists around the brass outdoor furniture.

The two young men only blinked, looking upon the paladin as if she was both insane and fearless. Magtyra shoved both of them as she ran by. "Come on, let's go after her!" the sergeant cried as she rushed forward lest the sturdier woman become overwhelmed by naked cultists. "Zhenya, wait!"

The three of them sprinted, and Magtyra was shocked by how much faster Zhenya could power walk. The woman had a feminine form but thicker than average, like a miner's daughter and also assistant, and blazed a trail that even a bull elekk wouldn't possess the audacity for. Just as they'd almost reached her, all three of them paused, frozen in fear of temptation as they found themselves in the middle of the camp.

All around them, brass jacuzzis and cauldrons bubbled with wine, spewing the stuff unnaturally in a sign of decadence Magtyra hadn't even imagined in her worst nightmares. Strangely for demon worshippers, there were no corpses or signs of any blood sacrifice at all; aside from the dirt on the ground, the place was more or less clean.

Well, dirt and bodily fluid. All around them, cultists from every sentient race of Outland except for the ethereals succumbed to acts of depravity, thrusting and caressing in groups as the wine they all bathed in sloshed around. Acts that Magtyra didn't even think of as sexual were performed, both confusing and nauseating her as she and her two companions huddled together with their maces at the ready. Various sensitive organs popped up out of the cauldrons, pulsating and throbbing despite not being connected to any bodies and causing the less experienced of her two youngers to tremble in fear of the unknown. Enraptured and oblivious, the moaning cultists continued on with their base, carnal acts, unaware of the three blessed clerics in their midst.

The very ground beneath their hooves resisted the power of the Light in them, reaching up in black tendrils to instead pull at them and tempt them away. The younger of the two men froze, dropping his mace and shaking visibly when an orc cultist stood up out of a dugout hole full of wine to stare right at him.

"Guests?" the corrupted orc woman asked in a sultry voice as the young cleric failed his saving throw for lust.

"I...well...no! I mean...we...Light...demons..."

The orc woman arched her brow mischeviously. "Want to go for a swim?" she asked, her eyes beginning to glow unnaturally.

"But...we're busy...save you all...maybe...just a few minutes-"

"Back, evil demon!" Magtyra hissed while raising her mace at the orc woman in a visual threat, stepping in front of her two subordinates as the more mature of the two men tried to calm the shivering younger man down.

"Hssss!" the naked orc hissed as she practically sank back into a hole filled with wine that was only half as deep as she was tall.

"This place is cursed!" the more self controlled of the two men gasped.

Just as Magtyra was about to speak, she found herself interrupted by a howl. A loud, bellowing howl of excitement that echoed off of every boulder in the camp, carrying over to the woods beyond the pit and filling all of existence around them. The two men fell into each other back to back as if they'd been surrounded by enemies on all sides, the younger of the two fumbling his mace, failing to grab it before it tumbled to the ground and settling for fisticuffs at the sound that had scared them so much.

As if existence and reality had shifted around them, the ground shrank until that accursed tree had moved closer to them without moving. The distance between it and them was reduced, and they found themselves a mere ten yards away from it, the fel fire from a trench dug around it heating up their armor. The green flames rose and cast shadows on the boulders all around, sending the cultists into a frenzy of fornication as Magtyra winced at the heretical display.

The shadows danced, revealing the dainty silhouette of the one who'd howled at them. Wings flappes and a thin, spindly tail wagged as the she devil herself rose up out of the flames, victorious laughter following the howl when the battle hadn't even yet begun. The rumored lease of the cult stood over them, her eyes burning with fel taint as she gazed upon the three massive draenei warriors without a hint of fear in her eyes.

"It's all about perspective, darling," Nina purred passive aggressively.


	4. Clobbering Time

Magtyra didn't know what was more horrendous: the succubus or the tree.

Leafless and greyed, the twisted oak burned by fel fire arched toward the sky, like gnarled fingers pointing to where the sun should have floated. Despite the thick trunk, the tree's branches twisted and curved into thin wooden claws, bending at knobby joints and ending in sharp little points like...insects. There was no clearer analogy in Magtyra's mind; the branches of that tree looked like insectoid limbs, even more insectoid than the disgusting spines lining Nina's calves.

Even more horrifying was the tree's heart. Slimy and green, the plant possessed an organic heart pumping fel taint into those insectoid branches, veins that transitioned from slime into wood connecting the putrid juice to the body of the trunk. Like a giant maggot or grub, the heart pulsed, writhing around as if trying to break free from a cocoon. The tree's heartbeat vibrated through the corrupted ground and traveled up into Magtyra's hooves like the beat of a drum.

Completely unafraid, Nina clopped closer, her back arched at a ridiculously suggestive angle as she honed her vision on the younger of the two male vindicators, obviously the weakest link. Falling into her role as leader without any apprehension this time, Magtyra stood in front of the two men, shielding their eyes at least from the vile mistress in front of them if she couldn't protect their young eyes from the orgies behind them.

"Be gone! You are not welcome here!" Magtyra shouted with less confidence than she would have preferred. The holy symbol she traced in the air only amused the foul succubus even more.

"You welcome people into their own houses? Interesting," Nina replied as she continued to strut straight into the trio of draenei. Despite the fact that she was short, skinny and about a third of Magtyra's body weight, the little demon displayed absolutely no fear as she forced them to back up even further.

And every time Magtyra took her eyes off of that damned tree for one single second...it appeared even _closer_. So did the trench surrounding it. She couldn't stare at it when her mind was busy wondering if Nina would strike or her cultists would mob them, thus Magtyra wouldn't be able to prove that the ground was shifting around them, but she knew that it truly was.

"You've all traveled for so long...won't you **stay** for a while?"

With a flick of her limp wrist, Nina cast a spell before the trio had even noticed. Green, black and purple magic seeped out of the ground beneath the feet of the two male vindicators, transforming into demonic traps that pulled both of them flat on the ground. Magtyra whirled around, raising her shield at nothing as she felt the panic grip her. Where was that mercenary?

"Come and get them, boys and girls!" Nina cackled, motioning for a group of unclothed revelers to slip and slide out of the jacuzzis of wine. Dirt collected in their bare skin and mixed with the wine, a decadent contrast of material excess and filth as the naked, unarmed cultists lustily strutted over to the two restrained vindicators. "There's enough for everybody!"

Magtyra spun around, counting just under a dozen cultists licking their lips and rubbing their...ugh...selves as they crept over toward her two youngers. There were too many for her to capture alive without a fight, and killing them could only be used as a last resort. "Nina, release them! You have no right - NO!"

It was too late. As fast as lightning, Nina's whip lashed out, wrapping around Magtyra's mace arm. Despite the fact that the succubus was only about the size of a human teenager, she was still a demon; unholy strength fueled her as she yanked and brought the proud draenei holy warrior to her knees, just about putting them at eye level. When Magtyra tried to stand up, Nina flapped her wings and flung herself straight forward, kneeing Magtyra in the chest plate and bringing the draenei flat on her back. Unnatural, unholy magic magnified Nina's weight as the little succubus straddled Magtyra's chest, pinning her to the ground and laughing maniacally as she took control of Magtyra's wrists. Slowly and methodically, Nina tied the vindicator's hands together in her whip and then cupped her chin and pressed.

Magtyra felt the back of her head being pushed into the ground, granting her an upside down view as Nina forced her to watch her restrained allies kick and thrash against the demonic snares in an attempt to crawl away from the slowly approaching cultists. "Stop, I'm begging you! They're just younglings, please, spare them this horror!" Magtyra cried while trying in vain to wiggle out from underneath the unnaturally heavy succubus.

Nina was unrepentant and beyond reason. "Don't worry, darling; there's plenty to go around!" she snickered, shoving on the draenei's chin to forcibly grind her molar teeth together.

Wood crashed into solid ground.

The ambient sound of demonic orgies and unholy white noise died away, revealing just how loud the pit had been before. The contrast was unbelievable, granting pause to every single person in the demon camp as even the cultists grew frigid and looked around. Bit by bit, the cauldrons and jacuzzis disintegrated into ash, buring away and dissipating as their tether to the mortal plane was severed and the Twisting Nether claimed them again.

The unholy snares disappeared, and the two male vindicators scrambled for their maces. The cultists, robbed of their confidence, seemed to realize that they were all unarmed and naked against two very large, heavily armored draenei with fear in their eyes. Even Nina loosed her grip on Magtyra, glancing around in confusion as the unnatural darkness in the sky gave way to the normal blue sky and light of day.

"What...what's going on?" the succubus asked angrily. "What happened to my sexy party?"

"Your tree's dead."

Magtyra froze. Hope filled every iota of her being as the mercenary's voice reached her ears, and even the crushing weight of the succubus on her chest suddenly felt bearable again. The cultists continued to back up, and when Nina flew in the air and landed some distance away, the draenei sucked in a gasp of air. Once she fought to a sitting position, she couldn't believe what she saw.

To say that Zhenya destroyed the cursed tree would have been an understatement; the woman wiped away its existence from the record books of time. Green slime from its smashed heart had been stomped into the ground, along with wood chips so small that they couldn't even have been used as mulch. The trench had been filled with dirt pushed over by the flat top of Zhenya's warhammer, which was slung casually over the shoulder of the woman who was built and dressed like a tank. When fully encased in her armor, not even her neck tendrils or tail could be seen; only her two hooves and one and a half horns were showing. The grill on the front of her helmet cast a glow as golden as her armor, but the Light emitting from the slits bore an unseen darkness to it that frightened Magtyra almost as much as Nina's lascivious nature.

The cultists began to back away, much to Nina's irritation. "Fools! She's mortal, she can still be tempted by the rites of flesh-"

Zhenya would hear none of it. "Tiiiiiime to make some _monies_!" she growled in what had to be the scariest cheesy catch phrase Magtyra had ever heard, though more due to who was saying it.

 _Light_ blasted out of Zhenya, radiating in a circle as the corrupted ground in the pit was consecrated from evil. Passing over the trio of blessed vindicators harmlessly, it set the heretical cultists ablaze, flaying their naked bodies as they all screamed and fled. When Zhenya slammed her warhammer into the ground, she send a shockwave that burned a few of them alive, sparing Nina only because the demoness flew up into the air and landed on a boulder.

Magtyra scrambled to her feet, fighting to untangle the demonic whip that seemed unnaturally wrapped around her wrists far more times than its natural length should have allowed. "Zhenya, no! We're supposed to save them, not kill them!" she cried.

In slow motion, Nina floated in the air, flapping her wings far too few times than should have been necessary to levitate. "Fall!" Nina growled as she raked her claws through the air, sending a dark shockwave of her own. The two male vindicators dropped their maces and dove to the ground, narrowly dodging and crawling over to Magtyra where they helped her crawl to safety.

The shockwave broke through Zhenya's force field, causing it to dissipate as the tank woman was knocked over. A similar demonic snare washed over her, much more powerful than the one Nina had used previously as Zhenya was covered in darkness like a swarm of bats. Rather than lust or mockery, pure malice laced Nina's voice.

"Nobody crashes my sexy parties!" the little succubus screeched. "Nobody! Now, you lose!"

Even beneath the living darkness, Zhenya's roar frightened the succubus and wiped the malice from her demeanor. The paladin's body shook, and Magtyra sensed that same sort of competitive defiance she'd noticed in Zhenya earlier. It scared her, even more so than demons, and when the darkness cracked like glass, Magtyra just pushed her youngers into a trench for safety rather than risk them getting involved.

Zhenya's voice was monstrous and furious. "You will _not_ -"

The darkness broke entirely, shattering to pieces that flew everywhere as the living seige engine rose.

"- _BEAT_ -"

A warhammer flew out. Not a conjured one of holy light, but an actual physical warhammer, breaking Nina's shadow shield and knocking the hapless demoness to the ground.

"- _ **MMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEE**_!"

A loud quake vibrated through the ground as Zhenya body slammed the succubus. Sitting on her back like a schoolyard bully, Zhenya gripped both of Nina's wings in each hand.

"Zhenya, don't!" Magtyra shouted, just a second too late.

A primal scream rang out from Nina's throat as Zhenya tore her wings off, sending foul green blood spurting all over the place as two of the demon's wings were ripped from her body. The holy consecration sealed the wounds and canceled Nina's demonic regeneration, and the force with which Zhenya yanked sent the little succubus flying into the dust many yards away.

In one of the more bizarre episodes of her life, Magtyra found herself feeling sorry when the frantic demon's eyes met her own. Such creatures knew no true kindness or mercy, but something about the tiny, mutilated demon sent a twinge of sympathy in the vindicator's heart. When she stepped forward, Nina flung her little body in kind, belly flopping into the dirt and throwing herself at Magtyra's feet like a scared child clinging to her mother's ankles.

"I yield! I yield!" Nina sobbed, offering her wrists up for the holy, antidemonic restraining shackles on Magtyra's belt. "Just keep her away from me!"

No longer angry once she'd made some sort of a point, Zhenya simply collected her warhammer and slung it over her shoulder, most definitely striking a pose this time. The two young men hid inside their trench, and Magtyra wasn't so sure from who. The cultists gone or dead and the demon camp disintegrated, Magtyra just held the shackles in one hand while reaching for the hysterically weeping demoness who clung to her ankle in the other.

"Zhenya...we have methods of converting and saving creatures like this!"

Shrugging as if she wasn't even interested anymore, Zhenya just started walking away. "That tree's dead. You owe me five hundred gold."

She didn't even turn around as the two males, much to Magtyra's irritation this time, followed the mercenary as if she was the boss. The vindicator just shook her head, resolving to give Zhenya a stern talking to once they returned to the convent.


	5. Preparation Z

Nina's entire body shivered as Magtyra and Zhenya each led her by an arm up the steps of the sanctuary, radiating fear that the vindicator had never seen in a demon before. The holy collar and chastity belt they'd forced the succubus to wear not only prevented her wings from regrowing but also her escape into the Twisting Nether. She might have broken free from whatever warlock summoned her to Terokkar Forest, but the blessed gold of her new adornments would prevent her freedom of movement or escape from that point on.

Without her wings, she almost looked...normal. Just like the draenei, the Sayaad had hooves, horns and a tail; all that was missing were neck tendrils and Nina was almost like a tiny, pink, miniaturized version of Zhenya herself. Except probably less scary.

Everyone stood in awe of the succubus who had been forcibly converted to faith in the Light, cheering and clapping at her arrival despite the fact that she was clearly there under duress. The commotion frightened her like a shy child, none of her previous shadowy power, lustfulness or rage apparent once her wings had literally been ripped out of their sockets. Demure as a village virgin, Nina looked completely defeated.

No matter, Magtyra thought to herself. Soon enough she would see the Light and realize that they were quarantining her for her own betterment.

Numerous sisters and brothers stood about in the fenced in garden in front of the sanctuary proper, all of it concealed by one of Pika's illusions. The various volunteer draenei in conservative dress temporarily stopped their daily chores to welcome their newest member. Opening the double doors leading to the main hall, a priestess who looked so uptight that she might as well have put hemorrhoid cream on her face strode out to address the former leader of the cult that had stolen members of their flock.

"Nina...I'm sure that's an alias, but it's a lovely name all the same. We'll chant it during your christening!"

The succubus quivered at the thought of baptism in burning holy water. "Wh-what's a christening?" Nina asked, her voice devoid of its former strength.

Her eyes darted around nervously at all the smiling and high fiving draenei staring at her. Freezing and tensing up, she laid her eyes on two draenei monks wearing shirts that read 'Celibacy = Cool' on the front. The two men were both squeezing out and dispensing what appeared to be some sort of a fruity liquid.

"Peach marmalade sure is better than alcohol!" one of the overly energetic young men chirped.

"No!" Nina gasped in pure horror.

Her eyes fell to her right, spying two draenei nuns who were clipping coupons out of what appeared to be serialized periodicals printed in whatever large town was nearby. One of the two women stood behind a poster with two platonic friends giving a thumbs up and saying 'Abstinence is Awesome.'

"I'm so glad that the local magistrate banned pornography and sent us all these gardening magazines instead!" one of the two silver haired women beamed.

" _No_!" Nina cried in absolute terror.

Her eyes finally fell to the priestess again, who'd motioned for the two armored women to release the demoness. The uptight priestess grabbed Nina by the wrist and began to drag her inside as a cohort of other volunteers descended upon the frightened little succubus for a round of high fives.

"We are going to cure you of your wickedness!" the priestess cheered to raucous applause that echoed inside the main hall as the group dragged their prize inside.

" _ **NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO**_!"

Cries of pure agony sounded like music to Magtyra's ears, her core beliefs satisfied that she'd done the right thing by destroying Nina's fundamental nature in order to mold her in the naaru's image while in captivity.

Shortly thereafter, the commotion shifted to inside of the convent for the festivities, punctuated by the occasional pitiful cries of the succubus and the oblivious coos of the sisters and brothers who assumed their attention was simply moving Nina to tears of joy. Duty called, however, and Magtyra wasn't able to hang up her armor and call it a day just yet.

Out by the guard outpost, Zhenya waited impatiently, her hands resting on the tip of her warhammer's shaft as she leaned on the upside down weapon in an overly dramatic pose. Her helmet was still on, concealing the stoic mercenary's expression entirely and leaving her true feelings a mystery. Not wanting to keep her waiting after a job sort of well done, Magtyra clopped over while sorting out the coinpurse she'd removed from the convent treasury.

"I wish we'd caught more of the escaped cultists...and that the other ones hadn't died," she sighed while double checking that she'd bagged the right amount of gold. "But either way, it's over. Our members are no longer being tempted into sinful heresy. And-"

"Can I go now?"

For a moment, Magtyra almost wasn't sure that she'd heard Zhenya's voice correctly. To be fair, the fact that the woman's face was concealed and her body so stiff left her true intentions hidden. But her words were unmistakeable, as was her audacious lack of regard for propriety.

This woman was a paladin...had she no shame?

"Well...if you really need to attend other matters, I guess we're all finished her," Magtyra said while holding out the coinpurse for Zhenya to snatch it from her hand.

Slinging her warhammer over her shoulder in an arrogant posture once more, Zhenya clopped away without responding, walking her way across Outland with neither hearthstone nor elekk to carry her along her way. Perhaps she had another heroic act lined up, or she intended to simply wander and find her fortune out in the world.

"Nice ass," she remarked to Nazar, one of the young volunteers from a local farm, as she slapped his backside and continued on her way. The poor young man blushed in embarrassment, looking around to make sure nobody saw before literally running away to hide despite the fact that Zhenya just continued on her way.

Magtyra's jaw dropped open, her eyes offended at the flagrant disregard displayed by one who could so skillfully command the Light. A light evening breeze rustled her sweaty, matted down hair as she nearly dropped her mace in shock. Nazar was a good young man; she knew his parents and knew that they'd probably sheltered him from even knowing what the A word meant. It wasn't fair.

She narrowed her eyes, her good mood soured. "Bitch," she mumbled while stomping back into her guard post.

* * *

 **A/N: Zhenya is based on a real person who I will never understand despite having lived around her for eight years. Because of that, the character's behavior is one hundred percent realistic for such a person even if I can't explain it or write from her own actual POV. She's just an incomprehensible, occasionally infuriating enigma based on a person who's still out there. Somewhere.**

 **I feel a bit bad for Nina...I don't know if this counts as a spoiler, but this isn't the last we see of her, nor of Zhenya. That's all that I'll say for now. Thanks for reading, and I hope the more graphic bits didn't offend anybody.**


End file.
